


take your kid to work day will always be boring, no matter what youre the king of

by Kealpos



Series: Phango2019 [2]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Bureaucracy, Domestic, Gen, Ghost King Danny Fenton, Next Generation, Phango2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:55:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21507745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kealpos/pseuds/Kealpos
Summary: “So!” Maddie clapped her hands together and kneeled in front of Lydia, practically vibrating with barely contained excitement and curiosity. “Did you get any ecto-infected samples for your dear old grandmother?”“Yeah, you want to see the colored pencils that came to life?”“Of course!”“Lydia Beatrice Foley-Manson-Fenton, I thought I told you to leave those in the Ghost Zone.”“But Dad! Ghost pencils!”
Relationships: Danny Fenton/Tucker Foley/Sam Manson
Series: Phango2019 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1550257
Comments: 2
Kudos: 102





	take your kid to work day will always be boring, no matter what youre the king of

**Author's Note:**

> for [Phandom Bingo 2019](https://phandombingo.tumblr.com/post/189106280067/phandom-bingo-week-is-here-introducing-your-bingo) Prompts: Next Gen + Post-Reveal + Ghost King
> 
> i wanted to focus more on daughter and ghost bureaucracy more than anything so the post reveal got swept under the rug a little, but it is firmly in a post reveal setting :D

"Hey, why don't I show you around my work?"

Lydia looked up sharply from her sheet music, mouth falling open into a perfect O. Danny only ever let Mom and Dad come with him to work!

"Are you serious?" She exclaimed, shutting her music book roughly in excitement.

"Don't get too pumped up there, Lyd," he laughed, leaning over to scoop her in a hug. "It's not the fighting this time - it's bureaucracy down in the Ghost Zone. That’s a huge part of my job.”

It was like the air deflated out of her as she pouted. “You never let me get close to the fighting!”

“Duh. It’s kind of my job, kid.” He smiled, ruffling her hair even as she glowered at him with all the force a ten-year-old could muster. “Listen, you get to see the Ghost Zone, and you get to see me talk with ghosts! Mom and Tuck can come too. We can pack a picnic, make a day of it.”

She grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like “You’re the worst dad ever,” and pulled out of his grip, but nodded slowly. Even a child as stubborn as a Fenton-Foley-Manson kid had to relent once and a while.

“Yeah, I know. That's also kind of my job.”

-

Despite her whining, when the day came - just two after Danny asked her - Lydia was extremely excited.

There were a lot of things to be said when one of your dads was a half-ghost superhero, and getting to visit a whole dimension(?) filled with ghosts was definitely one of the perks. When she was older, her parents had promised she could come see the fights in person, rather than being herded off by whatever town member had been enlisted to escort her home and having to hear about the fight through TV and retellings over the dinner table. She had to be at least fourteen, the age they had started fighting ghosts. Which, unfair. That was like a million years ago, and a million years away. But, if she couldn’t have that, visiting the Ghost Zone was the next best thing.

“Okay dear, looks like you’re all strapped in!” Maddie, her grandmother exclaimed, zipping her into her radiation-proof suit. “Are you excited?”

Lydia jumped, testing her capabilities in the suit that had apparently been Aunt Jazz’s once. “Yeah! Why do I have to wear this suit though? Dad and Mom and Dad-ny don’t have to!”

Jack laughed, his voice booming as he stepped forwards and messed up her hair in what she approximated was supposed to be a hair-ruffle but felt more like a noogie. “Well, kiddo, Danny doesn’t exactly need the suit for this now, does he?”

“Besides,” Sam interjected from where she was helping set up the ship. “Me and Tucker have been out there plenty of times. You, young lady, have not. It’s a safety precaution, which is much better than me and your fathers got when we were kids.”

“I’m still glad you three weren’t too badly affected back then,” Maddie added. Danny turned around to face her, raising an eyebrow. “Okay. I’m glad Sam and Tucker weren’t too badly affected,” she amended.

“No love for your own child. Harsh.” Danny floated over, handing her one of the spare thermoses. “Anyways, remember, if we’re not back in six hours, don’t send a full search party. Just call Valerie, and she’ll get us out of this mess.”

“Like usual!” Tucker said brightly.

Danny nodded solemnly. “She’s a very competent woman, yes. Like I said, six hours. I have to deal with kingly business for about four of those, and then we’re factoring in an hour for food and another for any potential setbacks.”

“We’ve got this, Danny-boy!” Jack exclaimed, slapping him on the back. Danny just hummed, his time of buckling under the force of his dad’s full strength - pretend or not - years behind him. “Trust us, we were dealing with ghostly business since before you were born!”

Danny smiled, leaning down, and whispered low enough so only Lydia could hear, “Yeah, they just didn't get good at it until I came along.” She giggled over this as he scooped her up onto his shoulders and headed over to the ship, her yelling in barely restrained glee. “Alright kids, let’s make like Jesus and get the hell out of here!” Danny shouted, Sam smiling at him in that way that let him know she found his antics amusing, but also that he wasn’t nearly as funny as he thought he was.

Tucker brought the picnic basket to the back, while Danny got Lydia situated in her seat, seatbelt purposefully _on. _There had been too many trips where someone forgot their seatbelt and rammed their head into the front of the ship (okay, it was mostly Danny). Sam clambered into the front and got it started, brimming with excitement. It only took a few minutes until finally, finally, everyone was ready to go.__

____

____

“See you later, Fentons!” Tucker called out to the pair of adults before Sam shut the door. He jumped into his seat, Sam grinned with all the maniacal energy of someone who had done this many times before and never gotten bored of it, and floored it into the portal.

-

It was several minutes of what Danny complained was ‘incredibly reckless driving’ and what Sam argued back was ‘not much different than Danny’s typical flying style at home’ before Lydia was granted permission to unbuckle from her seat and come to the front with them. Tucker allowed Lydia to climb up onto his lap for a better view, and what she saw was amazing.

Now, I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen a halfa transform. A ring of light forms from the tip of their head, stretching to the bottom of their toes, passing over them in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it fashion. The air changes pressure and temperature, depending on their core, and seeing their inverse is freaky in a really awesome way. Lydia had been fascinated ever since she had first seen it when she was just a baby, and she figured there was nothing else that could be as cool as her dad being able to suddenly transform into someone else.

The Ghost Zone came very nearly close.

It was a swirling mass of greens and broken, floating land. Ghosts drifted past them as the ship puttered through, a few stopping and waving as they passed. It was nothing like home and also everything like _home._ “So, I can’t give a full tour because we have to get down to the castle pretty soon, but, uh, this is the Ghost Zone!” Danny explained. “When we were around, I dunno, fourteen or fifteen, there was an, um, _incident_ with this ghost named Pariah Dark, which ended when I defeated him, or at least pushed him back into his box? It’s a long story. But the main point is, a couple of years after that I got called in and they announced that I was the new ‘Ghost King’ and I was sort of running the Ghost Zone.”

“Woah. So you’re in charge of this whole?” Lydia asked, starry-eyed. Danny smiled shyly, the edges of his fangs just barely poking out.

“Can’t get away!” He confirmed. “I don’t have full authority power because one, I don’t have his fun powerful accessories, and two, most of the Ghost Zone is run in independent factions currently. I’m basically there to help when there’s tension between factions, or when factions need a second opinion on a matter, unbiased from the initial conflict. Since I defeated Pariah and I don’t live here, I was the best choice.”

Sam hummed, nodding along to Danny’s story as she drove. “It’s actually super boring, Lyd. It’s dumb adult things like taxes and politics except like, deader.”

“He likes us to come because everybody else is either stuffy or hates his guts,” Tucker added.

Danny laughed, low and soft as he leaned back in his chair. “Forgive me for wanting a living being to help me make fun of when someone accidentally lets the animals lose from the pet cemetery. _Again._ I had no idea Cujo was tame until I had to deal with Ghost Parrots.”

She squirmed gleefully in Tucker’s lap, trying to get a better look of the castle coming into view. “Da-a-ad, can we visit the pet cemetery?”

“Maybe some other time, Lyds,” he replied, wrapping an arm around her body to keep her from falling off of him. “Today, we’re going to be busy.”

The ship slowly pulled up to the castle, where a small group of guards were keeping a line of ghosts from entering the castle. Danny went intangible and floated out, leaving Sam and Tucker to show Lydia how to put the Fenton Phone.

“Hey, Mr. Guard Man. How’s the crowd today?” Danny asked as he headed over to them, the guards coming to attention. In actuality, it was one ghost Danny had hired (on the basis that they were allowed to freely roam through the Human world as long as they didn’t attack anyone), multiplied to encompass the whole castle. 

Mr. Guard Man, whose real name was Violet Patrol, raised an eyebrow. “Depends. You brought the whole crew then, Phantom?”

He shrugged, looking behind him to watch as the three humans climbed out of the ship, Sam and Tucker fussing over a protesting Lydia. “Yep. Obviously, you know the husband and wife, and then that’s our daughter, Lydia. She’s ten. I’ve told you about Lydia, right?”

“A few times, sir,” they replied, chuckling. “She have any ghost in her?”

“Nah. Neither Sam nor I wanted to be pregnant, and I can’t have my own kids anyway because of the half-ghost thing,” he informed them, spreading his hands. “Adoption is your friend.”

As if on cue, Lydia ran over to clutch Danny’s pant leg hovering in the air, eagerly looking everywhere she could. “Who’s that?”

Danny snorted and pulled her up so she could be on the same height as him and Violet, Sam and Tucker coming up behind him, smiling mirthfully. “Lyds, this is Violet. They’re my guard.”

“Woah.” Lydia’s eyes twinkled, staring up at a very amused Violet. “So, you’re like, a knight?”

“So to speak. Your father’s not an ‘official’ king, therefore I am not an ‘official’ knight. But, yes, that would be correct.” Their lips twitched. “Would you like to see my sword?”

“YES!” Lydia shouted. Tucker waved his arms, hands falling into a T for a time-out.

He came forward, wrapping an arm around Danny’s waist, squinting out at the crowd of restless ghosts behind Violet. “Not that I don’t love a freaky ghost sword, which I absolutely do love, I adore it to bits, but we should probably get to work, Dans.”

That sobered them up. Violet straightened, and their doubles began to shout for the crowd to fall into order, the ghosts grumbling as they did so. “Of course, sir. We’ve got a couple of repeat factions coming back for elaboration on issues addressed last time.” They began to lead the way inside, pushing the large, heavy doors open easily. Lydia’s eyes couldn’t stay still. 

“Like what?” He asked, holding the doors open so Tucker and Sam could follow through before whizzing back up to Violet.

“Well, the ghosts from Hysteria Faction D are back to elaborate on maiming limits. And a few want to ‘discuss’ your foreign ghost policy. That is to say, attempt to intimidate you into leaving them be as they terrorize the Human world.”

Danny grimaced his tail swishing in irritation. “Well, that’s better than last time, I suppose.”

“You’d think,” they sighed, pulling open the set of doors to the main room, stopping just before entering. “But guess who got out again?”

“Aw shi- I mean, shoot.” Danny sighed and set Lydia down, pinching the bridge of his nose as he prepared to go inside. “Please tell me it wasn’t.”

Violet cracked a small, exhausted smile at him. “It was. Guess who opened the freaking Pet Cemetery? _Again?”_

-

“Mom. Dad. Hey, Mom.”

“What, Lydia?”

“This is boring.”

“We know, Lydia.”

Lydia frowned, slumping over in her seat as she watched Danny patiently nod through _another_ explanation on why that side of that faction should get that piece of that area. She knew it wouldn’t be as cool as getting to see a fight in person, but she had hoped it would be a little more interesting. The only times it had been cool was when ghosts gushed over how cute she was, and when the group who Violet had warned was going to try to intimidate Danny showed up. He easily scared them off though, because he was the coolest dad in the world.

Well, usually, at least. Right now it was just lame!

“Mo-o-om,” Lydia whispered with a whine, scooting back and forth in her chair. Her parents had the foresight to bring other stuff to do, like Mom’s sketchbook and Dad’s coding laptop, but on top of that, they were actually listening and contributing when Danny asked for their opinion. She had had her coloring book, but a couple of her colored pencils came to life so that didn’t last long. “When are we eating? We’ve been here for hours. And I’m hungry.”

Sam hummed, inclining her head towards Tucker, who obligingly checked the time before grimacing. “She’s right. It’s been about three hours. We should probably get wrapped up here.” She yawned, nodding as she closed her sketchbook.

“I’ll go tell him and Violet, Tuck. You and Lydia get ready to go.” Sam pecked his forehead before heading over to Danny’s throne-thingy, arms cracking as she stretched. Lydia watched as she bent over, whispering to Danny and the current ghosts with him about their plans. Tucker smiled softly at the pair of them, closing down his laptop and helping Lydia out of her huge chair where her feet dangled off of it. Actually, Tucker's feet hung off of it too.

After a few minutes of quiet discussion, Tucker and Lydia hanging out in the back, the ghosts he had been talking with were mostly satisfied and Violet was blocking the rest from coming in, one of their doubles leading the four out of a back exit. Danny rolled his head as he floated with them, holding one hand on Tucker's shoulder to keep pace. He groaned, his neck popping.

“Every time I come back, I always forget how much king duties sucks,” he grumbled, slumping over on his unsympathetic husband.

“You could always release Pariah Dark again,” Sam offered. “That might liven things up.”

He laughed and lightly shook his head, not even bothering to comment on what she just said. “What'd you think, Lyds? Still think your dad’s job is always cool, all the time?”

“It sucked!” She whined, and Sam broke out in cackles. “Do you really have to do this every month?” 

“For the rest of my afterlife!” He replied cheerily, wrapping his tail around her torso to make her giggle. “But, hey, another month done, hopefully. You ready to eat now?"

“Yeah!”

“Alright, let’s hope the sandwiches haven’t come to life and formed an uprising in the ship yet.” Sam sighed.

“Okay, look,” Danny replied defensively, folding his arms. “That only happened one time, alright?”

-

They arrived home fifteen minutes before the six hour mark, due to an unprecedented (and by unprecedented, they meant totally precedented) attack by the Lunch Lady, who they got off their back by showing her Lydia and going yes, she is eating meat with meals, and yes, she is very healthy, and yes, she _is_ cute as buttons, so glad you noticed. When they arrived, Valerie had only just gotten there, just waiting for the Fenton’s cue. Then, she forced them to take a just-went-to-the-ghost-zone group selfie, because she was the best and most terrible.

All in all, Danny figured, it was a pretty good trip. He’d have to start teaching Lydia how to handle some of the tamer ecto-weapons what with the way she was aching to follow in her parents’ ghost busting footsteps.

“So!” Maddie clapped her hands together and kneeled in front of Lydia, practically vibrating with barely contained excitement and curiosity. “Did you get any ecto-infected samples for your dear old grandmother?”

“Yeah, you want to see the colored pencils that came to life?”

“Of course!”

_“Lydia Beatrice Foley-Manson-Fenton I thought I told you to leave those in the Ghost Zone.”_

“But Dad! Ghost pencils!”

Yeah. He couldn’t have asked for much better.

**Author's Note:**

> also available on [my tumblr](http://www.transannabeths.tumblr.com)
> 
> lydia is my fun, temporary take on next gen dp kid. is it cheating if she doesnt have powers? if it is then....idk.  
> shes named after the beetlejuice character bc naming her lilith felt cheesy. and hey, i love cheesy, but still. shes a ten year old menace and Everyone Loves Her. she plays the violin. she really wants to help with ghost fights, but okay listen, fourteen is too young but ten is WAY too young, missy. shes adopted bc neither danny nor sam wanted to be pregnant (plus...danny is halfa infertile. sucks to say but its true) but sam and tucker wanted kids. danny is just glad they went the bureaucratic method. hes pretty good at that method.
> 
> also just general futurefic hcs: sam/tucker/danny all live in a big house together and are that hot ghost fighting couple everyone loves and they got polymarried in the ghost zone and everyone in amity was like okay *recognizes their ghost marriage certificate as legally binding*
> 
> also i havent watched the ep w pariah isn FORGEREVER so if he actually loses all his accessories... dont tell me
> 
> k thx


End file.
